PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 227: What Does God Want Us to Do in the Land? Part 4
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 227: What Does God Want Us to Do in the Land? Part 4
The latest George Barna poll reveals that only six percent of Christians have a true biblical world view. What an indictment against Christian parents! Are your children established in a biblical world view, and how does this question impact your mothering?
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Good to be with you again. We are currently talking about the things that stop us from possessing the land. We began talking last week about discouragement, and how we can have the victory over it.
In Ezra chapter four, we see four different things of how the enemy came to stop them building the temple. He came to them to 1) discourage them, and 2 to put fear in them, 3) they hired counselors to frustrate them. And then, the fourth thing that they did was to send a letter of accusation to the king of Babylon, the king of Persia, actually. Yet again another thing that the devil still does today. He has the same strategies. He hasn’t changed. His strategies are the same.
So, ladies, you’ve just got to take hold of this and understand it. This is how the devil came back in those days. He came to discourage, to put fear in our hearts, to frustrate us (often with humanistic counseling) and then to accuse. The devil is the accuser of the brethren.
This letter that they wrote to the king was actually very successful. It caused the king to command them to stop building the temple. Accusations can be very powerful. But praise the Lord, that wasn’t the end. Eventually through God intervening, they did start building the wall again.
It actually did take 20 (no, it was the temple at this time), but it took 20 years for them to finish the building after they had come back from Babylon. That was quite a long time, but they did finish it. That’s important. We always want to finish, don’t we?
Those are the strategies of the enemy. Get to know them, ladies. When you find these things happening in your life, know where they come from. Resist the devil in the power of the Name of Jesus. Don’t let them have the victory. Amen? Amen!
All right. Now, the next thing that we’re going to talk about, the next thing that stops us from possessing the land is . . .
No. 5. HALF-HEARTEDNESS
We’re going to find that in Numbers 14. They had now come out of the wilderness. They’re going into the Promised Land.
Here we’re talking about Caleb. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who went into the Promised Land of those 20 and over who came out of Egypt. Isn’t that incredible? They came out of Egypt and were meant to go into the Promised Land but all those who were 20 and over never got in because of their unbelief and their fear of going into the land.
But Caleb had to, oh, can you imagine it? He’s had to wait all those years, just longing and chomping at the bit to get there. Oh, but at last he’s going in! He’s now 85 years of age. Somewhere, I’m not sure where it is, I’m not seeing it in my chapter here, but he says he’s just as fit as he was when he was young (Joshua 14:11).
Here we read, in Numbers 14:22-24, the Word of God is talking about those who did not believe and did not trust the Lord. “Because all those men which have seen My glory, and My miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it: but My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed (his children) shall possess it.”
But why did Caleb get in, ladies? Because he had a different spirit. He was different from the rest of them. He didn’t just fall into the groove of what everybody else was thinking, and the unbelief, and the fear. No, he kept trusting God. We have to have that spirit.
Dear ladies, if we’re going to really come into all that God has for us, in His kingdom, because as we read these Scriptures about going into the land, it’s a type of coming and living in the kingdom of God that God has for us. But also, where are we in His kingdom? We are in our homes in the land of motherhood. This relates to us too.
EMBRACE MOTHERHOOD FULLY
As we go in, we must go in, not half-heartedly, not, “Oh, well, I’ve got this baby now, but really, help! I love this baby with all my heart! But I love my career too, so what am I going to do?” So many times, many precious mothers put aside motherhood. Oh yes, they love their babies. They love their children, but they don’t love motherhood yet. They put aside the fullness of their career of motherhood to go out into another career. Can you believe it?
And yet, that’s thought normal to them. Dear ladies, it’s not normal. It's abnormal! It goes against the very nature of who God created us to be. Our nature longs and cries for our babies and our children because God put that within us, that longing to nurture and to mother them. This is our career. Any other career is not THE career.
Maybe it’s something that you think is important but it’s not as important as motherhood. We can’t go into this land of motherhood with a half-heartedness. “OK, I’m going to have one foot in the land of motherhood, and one foot, or maybe a few more feet, in my career.” No, no, we’ve got to go in fully, fully, just as it says here.
“Caleb had a different spirit. He has followed Me fully.” This should be our attitude as we live in this land of motherhood. Oh, dear lovely mothers, embrace it fully! This is where you come into the joy of it, and the glory of it, knowing this is where God has placed you.
Even if you’re facing challenges. Many days are difficult, but God is with you! And you’re in the greatest career that He has given to women. We have such power to impact the nation, dear precious mothers. Oh, the more that you can pour into your children and prepare them to come forth one day from your home to be mighty sons and daughters of God, there is nothing greater that you can do.
So, none of this half-heartedness. No, it’s not half in the land of motherhood and half in your career. No, it’s all in, all in, just like Caleb was all in. Amen?
And then, the next one that stops us from possessing the land fully:
No. 6. ASSIMIMLATION AND INDOCTRINATION
These things will keep us from possessing the land fully. Let’s go back, shall we, to Leviticus 20:22-26. I’ll just read little bits from them, but you can always go back when you’ve got time, when you’re maybe not walking along the road as you’re listening to me, or maybe doing the dishes, or something like that. You can read it in your Bible later.
Also, remember you can get the transcripts for these podcasts. In the transcripts, I make sure I have all the references for you. Sometimes I put in a lot more references that we don’t even have time to talk about on the podcast because sometimes I have so many Scriptures. I don’t even give them all to you, but in the transcripts I will put all the references for you, if you want to have further studies.
All right, Leviticus 20:22-26: “Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spew you not out. And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for. . . I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people. Ye shall therefore put difference between clean and unclean. . . And ye shall be holy unto Me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine.”
God is revealing to them here who they are. Who are His people? They are a holy people unto Him. He has separated them and severed them from every other people on the face of the earth. Now, did you notice there, we read, “which have separated you from other people,” and then in verse 26, “and have severed you from other people.”
Actually, both words are the same in the original Hebrew, but we get the real feeling, don’t we, when we read them. We read “separated,” and then we read “severed.” Yes, God severs His people from all the other nations. They were to be different. They were set apart to Him. They were His people, a holy people unto Him.
And dear ladies, this is who God wants us to be in the land. We are His people, His mothers, teaching our children His ways, because we are set apart to Him. We are not meant to be just like everybody else.
OK, what’s everybody else doing? Well, most probably, everybody else in your neighborhood is going off to their careers, going out to work, putting their children in daycare, sending them off to school each day. That’s the norm. But are you the norm? No, you’re not meant to be just the norm. God has separated us. He has made us different. We’re separated and set apart unto Him.
It seems to me such a sad thing today. It seems like so many people who call themselves Christians are wanting to be as much like everyone else as they can. Yes, they believe they are born again, and they love Jesus with all their heart, but they still don’t want to be severed. They want to be as much like everyone else around them, doing what everybody else does.
Dear ladies, we don’t live our lives that way. We have to check out everything in the Word of God. Is what I’m doing what the rest of the humanistic society is doing around me, or is it the lifestyle of the kingdom of God? What is the lifestyle I am living? Do you really know the lifestyle of the kingdom of God? We need to know what it is.
Now, let’s see a few other things here. Leviticus 20:23: “And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you.” Now, that word “manners” is the word that means “the customs and the ways of that land.”
We go to Leviticus 18:3: And God says, “After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, where I bring you, you shall not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.”
And then, if you have time to go and read Leviticus 18, you will see all the evil things of those lands that God is against. He says, “I don’t want you to have anything to do with them, the customs and ordinances of those lands.” Of course, He speaks about the different sexual things that are abomination to Him. All different kinds of immorality, and even homosexuality. And God calls them all “abominable customs.”
That word for “manners,” or “ordinances,” or “customs” is the Hebrew word chuqqah, and it means “appointed customs, manners, ordinances, statutes.” Now, ladies, the very interesting thing is that that same Hebrew word is used to describe God’s laws, and statutes, and ordinances. And He uses the same word to talk about Satan’s statutes, and laws, and ordinances.
Just a moment. Did you know, did you know, ladies, that Satan also has statutes, and laws, and ordinances? We often don’t think of that, do we? We think, “Oh, yes, the Bible talks so much about God’s laws, His statutes, His ordinances, His commandments, which He wants us to obey and to follow.”
There are some people who don’t even want to follow God because they don’t want to come under any statutes, or laws, or ordinances, thank you! “I want to be free. I want to do my own thing!” But do you know what? Nobody does their own thing. We live in either of two kingdoms, the kingdom of God, which has its own laws and ordinances from God. Or we live in the kingdom of the devil, Satan’s kingdom, which also has its own laws and statutes.
Now, let’s have a look at some other Scriptures. Go to Leviticus 18:30: “Therefore shall ye keep my ordinances, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.” You see, those abominable customs, that word is the same word talking about obeying God’s customs. We’re either going to obey His laws and customs or we will obey Satan’s laws and customs.
We go over to Deuteronomy 18:9: “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.”
2 Kings 17:7-13: I’ll just read you a little bit of it. “The children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt. . . and walked in the statutes of the heathen.”
Do you notice that ladies? “The statutes of the heathen.” That’s the statutes of Satan’s kingdom. “Yet the Lord testified against Israel. . .. saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes.” So, we’re going to choose one or the other.
Did you know, ladies, that between 1995 and 2016, our federal government instituted 88,899 new rules, and 4,312 laws? Now that is coming from a liberal government. Most of those laws are really just to frustrate us, to bring us under tyranny. They are not laws of freedom. Most of them are totally unnecessary. Did you hear that? 88,899 new rules! Yes! Goodness me! Today there are 170,000 pages of government regulations on the books, most of them unnecessary, and all just tyrannical.
I remember staying with a dear friend of mine. We stay with her every time we go to Scotland. She was telling me one year, quite a few years ago, “Nancy, I went to the supermarket, and all I needed to buy was a potato peeler. I’d just run out. I was there at the checkout, getting my potato peeler and the light came on! A checkout girl said, “Just a minute. I have to get my superintendent when the lights come on.” So, the supervisor came, and she had to check that she was over 18 to buy this potato peeler because it could be a dangerous weapon!
How stupid can you get? Such ridiculous laws! A potato peeler being a dangerous weapon? That you can’t use one until you’re 18? This is how ridiculous . . . so many, (and we have crazy laws like that here too). It’s so ridiculous!
But, ladies, how are we living? Are we living by the laws and ordinances of God’s kingdom? Or of the kingdom of the enemy?
You’ll be familiar with George Barna, who is a research pollster. He did research in May to check out how many Christians are living by a biblical world view.
Now, if we really belong to the Lord, we’ll be living by a biblical worldview. Did you know that according to this research, only six percent of Christians have a biblical worldview? Actually, 51% of these Christians said that they had a biblical worldview, but when they were asked certain questions to prove it, it worked out that only six percent truly had a worldview from the biblical standpoint. Isn’t that sad? Isn’t that tragic?
Some of the questions: e.g., 49% said that reincarnation was a possibility after they died. And this was supposed to be people who said they had a biblical worldview! Can you believe that? Only 33% believed that human beings are born with a sinful nature and can only be saved from the consequences of sin by Jesus Christ. Wow!
But precious mothers, this comes back to us parents. We are the ones that determine what our children are believing. We are responsible for what we are teaching them. How can it be, dear precious mothers, that only six percent have a truly biblical worldview? Do your children have a biblical worldview? Do they understand God’s truth and what it says in His Word regarding any subject at all? Or are they conditioned by this humanistic philosophy of this world?
Sadly, if they are in public education, they will have a humanistic worldview because this is what they are being taught from morning to night. In fact, more than a humanistic worldview, they’re now being totally brainwashed to believe abominable things, such as homosexuality, same-sex marriage, transgenderism. These are even abominable customs, and they don’t belong to the kingdom of God.
Precious mothers, even homeschooling mothers, our children have so much bombarding them with the social media and if they’ve got iPhones. You can’t believe what they can pick up. We have to be constantly pouring into them God’s truths, His Word, that they know His Word, that they understand a biblical worldview. It is so important.
In 2 Kings 17:24, this was in the land of Israel, but there were people here . . . when they had taken the Jews to Babylon, they brought other people into the land, who didn’t know the ways of God.
It says here in 2 Kings 17:26-28: “Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore, He hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner (or the customs) of the God of the land. Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, take one of the priests . . . and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.”
We see here that God was concerned that in the land, they followed His customs, not the customs of the people who had been in the land hitherto, because God had cast those people out, to bring this people in. We also are to live by the customs of the Lord, by His Word, by His statutes, His laws, His commandments, not by all the humanistic ordinances that are all around us, because they are also laws and statutes, but from a different realm.
So, ladies, here we are. This is our responsibility, to be teaching our children the customs and the way of the Lord, Amen? This is important, and if we’re not doing this, this will stop us from totally possessing the land. We can’t possess it unless we’re living in the lifestyle and the commandments, and the laws of the kingdom of God. Because every kingdom has its own laws. That what a kingdom has. A kingdom has a king, and a kingdom has laws. That’s how it operates.
Talking about laws, here’s another thing. It’s a little bit off the subject, but I thought of something that I would just pop in here. But it’s also talking about laws and ordinances. It’s talking about when people came into the land, or maybe strangers came into the land of Israel, and the Word of God says: “Or whosoever is among you.” God gave them certain principles.
Now, these Scriptures were a wonderful answer to me in things that I didn’t quite know what to do about. As I said earlier, every question I have ever had, I have found my answer in the Word of God.
Colin and I love to have hospitality. We love to have people coming and staying with us. Throughout the years, we’ve had so many different people come and stay, even come and live with us for long lengths of time.
But some people would come into our home, and they had different customs to us. I’ve had people in our home who would come in and they’d turn on the TV in the day and sit down and watch it. We don’t do that. We never watch TV at all, but there was a time when we would maybe watch in the evenings. Colin would love to watch the news, so we would put it on to see the news in the evening. We don’t even do that now. We even think that’s a total waste of time.
But I have had a law in my home that I don’t have TV on in the day because the day is for work. The day is for productivity. The day is not for sitting around, loafing on the sofa, gawking at some soap opera. That’s never been part of the law of my home.
And, dear ladies, every one of us has our own laws in our homes, don’t we? The only way we can function is if we have certain laws and principles so we can keep the home functioning. I thought, “Help! What do I do about that? Do I say anything or don’t I?”
Then I’ve had other families come in with their little children. And, oh, goodness me, you can’t believe it! They run into the bedrooms and jump on the beds! Well, I don’t allow children to jump on beds. That ruins the mattresses. It’s not one of the things that I allow in our home. But what do I do? Do I say anything or not? Do I just let them run over my house and do what they like?
Well, I found my answer. It’s very interesting. There are a lot of Scriptures here. I’ll just read one or two of them, and I’ll put them all in the transcript for you. It shows here what God wants us to do. OK? You have your strategy, your plan, your rules. Not that you’re making it a legal thing, but you have your structure for your home, and the things that you will not have in your home, or you’d love to have.
Exodus 12:49-50: “One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.”
Leviticus 24:22: “Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God.”
Numbers 15:14-16: “And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever he be among you (friends, foes, it doesn’t matter) whosoever he be, as ye do, so shall he do.” Did you get that ladies? “As ye do, so shall he do . . . One ordinance shall be for both of you of the congregation. And also, for the stranger that joineth with you. As ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord. One law and one manner (or custom) shall be for you, and for he that sojourneth with you.”
And there are other Scriptures too.
I said, “Oh, thank You, Lord. You’ve shown me what to do! You’ve shown me that there is one law, so that when people come into my home, they maybe will do things that I don’t want to do in my home.” I’m not talking about every little thing, of course, but certain things that would really upset the workings of our home.
Now I have the freedom, because I have the Word of God, to gently share with them, “Well, do you mind? We don’t like to do this in our home. So, if you wouldn’t mind, while you’re here, if you don’t do this.” I have had to do that. It’s not always easy to do, but it’s what the Bible says.
Maybe you’re facing something like that. Sometimes you even face it from in-laws, and people who come into your home who don’t know the laws, especially when talking about family here. Maybe you have parents who are not Christians, or something like that. You do have to keep to the standards that God has given you. One law and one custom shall be to the ones who are in your home, and those who come in, “whosoever they be.”
I thought I’d give you those, because I’ve often had people ask me, “What do you do? I’ve had different situations I’m facing. Help! This is happening in our home, and I don’t even know what to do about it! What should I do?” Well, here God gives us the Scriptures, and we have a strategy for what He wants us to do. Amen?
All right. We must conclude this session.
“Dear Father, we thank You again as we so often do, for Your wonderful Word, and how You teach us in so many different ways. Lord, it’s so easy to go our own way, but we thank You, Lord, that You give us the answers, You give us Your laws, and customs, and Your Word in how You want us to live. And how You want us to live in Your land, in our land of motherhood.
“We ask that You will teach us and show us Your way. Lord, we think of Your Word. The meek will He show His way. The meek will He teach His way. Lord, we want to have a meek spirit before You, that You will continue to teach us and show us Your ways. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
FOR YOU TO PRINT OUT:
THE SAME LAW
ONE LAW, ONE ORDINANCE
“AS YE DO, SO HE SHALL DO”
Exodus 12:48-50: “One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. Thus did all the children of Israel; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.”
Leviticus 24:22: “Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.”
Numbers 9:14: “Ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.”
Numbers 15:14-16: “And if a stranger sojourn among you, or whosoever be among you in your generations . . . AS YE DO, SO SHALL HE DO. One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, and ordinance forever in your generations: AS YE ARE, SO SHALL THE STRANGER BE BEFORE THE LORD. ONE LAW and ONE MANNER (custom) shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.”
Numbers 15:29: “Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.”
Whatever laws God gave to His people, He expected the strangers in the land to adhere to them also. He included the stranger in all the laws and all the feasts and all the gatherings of Israel.
Read Exodus 20:10; 23:12; Leviticus 16:29; 17:10-16; 19:34; 20:2, 3; 24:16; Deuteronomy 5:14; 16:11, 14; 29:10-13; 31:12, 13; Joshua 8:33; 8:35; 2 Chronicles 30:25; and Isaiah 56:6, 7.